Why not let homeowners decide?

The legal see-saw between the Parañaque City government and the UBFHAI as to who should control the gates of the BF Homes Parañaque subdivision tilts to one side again, this time in favor of the group of the latter.

To refresh your memory, a couple of months ago Parañaque City Mayor Jun Bernabe reacted to the mounting complaints of multitudes of subdivision owners to the manner the UBFHAI had been managing the control of the gates by charging ridiculously high entry fees for almost any kind delivery even for those residing inside the subdivision. The City government, through a court ruling, took control of the gates and assigned Barangay Tanods and citizen guards to man them.

Since then, according to many residents, many businesses offering various products and services were put up and were able to supply their needs without having to go to Alabang or further to Makati, translated to tremendous savings in fuel costs and precious time. Many parents even welcome the fact that their young teens are now better off safe as they do not have to go far for their evening fun as there are a lot of wholesome places that have been put up within the subdivision for them to spend time in without having to leave the village. The improvement of this business climate, an opinion offered by many BF Homes residents, can be attributed to the good Mayor’s removal of the "oppressive restrictions" in manning the gates and the "unreasonable entry payments" that raise the cost of doing business and restricts the entry of customers. Many residents also opined that their security was not really compromised with the opening of the gates as it is common knowledge that BF Homes Parañaque is now made up of independent enclaves and homeowners associations with their own guards to secure their individual independent areas.

After years of seeing this legal see-saw many residents are now inclined to have the issue decided by themselves by having some sort of a referendum among them to decide once and for all who should control the main gates of their village. However, a lot more seem to be pushing on first having a referendum to decide on whether the present leadership in the UBFHAI is acceptable to the majority of the residents or not.

The Murano breaks into the market

The metro society’s "who’s who" seemed to have all congregated at the Ayala Museum last Wednesday, March 29 to witness the unveiling of Nissan Motor Philippines’ latest offering to the auto market — the Murano, a mid size SUV.

No less than the country’s racing "living legend" Pocholo Ramirez, who once raced for Nissan, together with lovely wife Ellen, led the personalities, which included members of the now famous "after-market Mafia", that proudly drove the Murano into the midst of the awed crowd of auto enthusiasts and possible buyers for them to see it real up close.

Powering the Murano under its hood is one of the finest engines to be produced by Nissan — the VQ engine, which is the only engine series to be listed in Ward’s 10 Best Engine’s List for 12 straight years — with 234 ps @ 6,000 rpm and 32.4 kg-m of torque @ 3,600 rpm.

You can catch it at any of the Nissan showrooms all over the country with an introductory price that may be hard to resist.

DaimlerChrysler-Cats Motors Technology Symposium

If you are interested to know the latest automotive developments and technological breakthroughs in fuel cells and similar fields you still have today to catch "Visions and Innovations: A Technology Symposium" at The Loft, Rockwell Center in Makati.

Now on its 2nd day, the symposium, which runs from 9 am to 5 pm, is jointly organized by DaimlerChrysler in cooperation with Cats Motors, their exclusive distributors in the country with our good friends and auto industry tycoons Greg Yu and Felix Ang at the helm.

Veteran TV host Emy Arcilla, who works closely with our auto tycoon friends from Cats Motors, was excitingly telling me about the line up of power speakers being lead by Mr. Helfried Scharf, head of External Affairs & Communications, DaimlerChrysler South East Asia. The technically charged topics that range from DaimlerChrysler’s Research & Technology, Alternative Drive Systems, Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cells to Car Safety, to name some.

Premier motoring TV shows now on Sports Plus

Starting tomorrow, Thursday, at 10 o’clock in the evening, Sports Plus, part of the Solar Cable TV Network and one of the most-watched cable channels that airs top-notch sports and lifestyle programs shall carry Auto Focus, local television’s premier motor show that’s exclusively dedicated to the automobile.

While starting this coming Sunday, April 9 the country’s longest running motoring program being on its 19th year of broadcast and now regarded as an institution on Philippine television, Motoring Today shall likewise be carried by Sports Plus as a weekend viewing habit at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

There’ll be two outstanding SUVs that’ll take center stage tomorrow evening on Auto Focus — the newly-launched compact from Toyota, the RAV4 together with Mitsubishi’s mid size Montero Sport. For those who may be in the market for mid size sedans, we’ll have a feature to feature comparison of the Honda Accord and the newly launched Mitsubishi Galant on the segment Head-to-Head. Another interesting feature is Japan’s "driving school" where both professional and non-pro drivers may hone their driving skills or freshen up on the basics of proper and safe driving.

On Motoring Today, which I co-host with the country’s racing "living legend" Pocholo Ramirez, we’ll have on our segment Race Weekend this Sunday the highlights of the first leg of the 2006 World Formula One Series, the Bahrain Grand Prix. On Motoring Forum, where we discuss issues that are of vital concern to the motoring public, the spotlight shall be on coco bio-diesel — an alternative fuel for better fuel economy while our Public Service Portion shall look into viewers’ complaints regarding loading and unloading zones of provincial buses in Cubao, Q.C.

Sunshine Television finds it a privilege to have its flagship TV program Motoring Today and premier automobile show Auto Focus to be carried on the very prestigious Solar Cable Network and aired on the high-rating Sports Plus Channel.

Pit Lane Notes

The Australian Grand Prix was action-packed from start to finish, with the safety car coming out no less than four different times. The results, however, were far from unpredictable — Renault once again proved that they’re one step ahead of everyone and pulled away with yet another Fernando Alonso victory despite having Honda’s Jenson Button at pole position. Oddly enough, Jenson failed to finish in the points despite his hard-earned front spot on the grid, thanks to a blown engine.

Turn one saw Christian Klein spun across Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg, and later on Jarno Trulli’s Toyota found itself a little too close for comfort to David Coulthard’s car. Out comes the safety car — the first of four appearances. When the race resumed, the defending champion succeeded in grabbing the lead away from Button. Not long after that, the young Briton was relegated to 3rd place as Kimi Raikkonen grabbed 2nd. Ralf Schumacher wasn’t far behind, and neither were Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Webber.

At the end of the race, Kimi was a mere 1.8 seconds behind Fernando for 2nd, and Ralf ended up with a well-deserved podium finish despite being handed a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

So Renault continues its reign in the kingdom of Formula 1. We’re still waiting for the much heralded Ferrari push that Michael Schumacher was blabbing on and on about. McLaren continues to be plagued by mechanical problems with Juan Pablo being forced to retire at the 46th lap, and Sauber-BMW is slowly showing everyone that they are definitely a force to be reckoned with on the track.

The Mazda 6 brings home the COTY beacon

Many motoring journalists looked spic and span, fine and dandy in business attire and smart chic dresses last Thursday at the Rockwell Tent for the (CAGI) Car Awards Group, Inc. "Car of the Year" awards.

CAGI president and Gadgets Magazine chief editor and STAR motoring writer Manny delos Reyes really looked "karangal-rangal" in his Barong Tagalog.

After a series of extensive test drives conducted by CAGI members the following automobiles were declared winners; Subcompact: Hyundai Getz; Compact: Mitsubishi Lancer 1.8 MX; Executive: Mazda6 2.3; Luxury: Chrysler 300C; Ultra-luxury: BMW 530i; Pickup: Ford Ranger; Entry-level MPV: Toyota Innova; Luxury MPV: Mitsubishi Grandis; Entry-level SUV: Mazda Tribute 3.0 V6; Luxury SUV: Volvo XC70; Ultra-luxury SUV: Mercedes-Benz ML 350. Special awards: Best in Safety: Mercedes-Benz S350; Best in Overall Design: Audi A6; Best in Technical Innovations: BMW X3 2.0d; Best in Value: Toyota Innova, with the title of "Car of the Year" being bestowed to the Mazda6 2.3 from Ford Group Philippines.

Congratulations to all the winners and kudos to the CAGI for their second successful staging of the awards.

Happy Motoring!!!

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